DrInventor

My son had to explain that joke to me. Funny.

I don't know about "cool" but I invented a bunch of nuclear, biological, chemical defense patents if you think that is "cool".

A few billion per year in annual sales.

Most people never try to become a "multi-domain" inventor because it is a rare occupation and quite difficult to build the skills. Instead, most people become of single-domain inventor where they build expertise and market knowledge in a singel area.

The problem with inventing is that you need to create very substantial and new ideas that alter the economic or business model significantly -- you can not create incremental inventions. Why? The reason is that incremental inventions are of great value to a company already operating within a business.

The incremental invention improves production, reduces costs, adds new features, but doesn't change the overall balance of power within an industry. Incrementalism is useful for companies that already operate within a field. However, if you are a private inventor, you need to create an invention that changes the entire basis for a field or industry so that the invention forms the basis to enter the industry from a zero base and take the industry by storm. This is called a "generic" invention. Incremental inventions must be licensed to the people who already control an industry and the inventor faces huge NIH problems.

The big invention, the generic idea, allows the inventor to raise capital and enter the industry and displace the current players because the invention moves the needle to such a degree that no existant player can operate against the new concept. Such a dramatic new idea is usually possible only by using certain specialized approaches to inventing.

Forget about a small contribution unless you want to do endless licensing deals and have doors slammed in your face. They usually do not pay well.

When I was 14, I came up with a concept for a laser, which was totally new technology at the time. I was behind and another company had already developed my system, but a large multi-national was sort of surprised that a kid could invent something like a laser. It was an early foray into inventing, but I developed other interests. Later, I went back and systematically dissected how to invent. So, the key was to "invent a method of inventing". With this tool, the world is a little oyster.